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Really? I was too expensive?

10-12-2012, 12:13 AM

9am get a call for water dripping down from the ceiling of a 2 story house. Tell the H.O. that I can't get there until about 3 and asked if they could wait which they said is no problem. I ask if they turned off the water and they said they wanted to keep it on as it wasn't a big drip coming out of the ceiling. I politely ask them again but they insist on keeping the water on.

At 1, I get the address and tell them I'm on the way. They ask my hourly rate and then decline after I tell them. So later I get another job that has me driving right past the house. A handyman truck is out there with a huge pile of drywall on the front porch. 2 hours later, I drive back home and there is now a RR van there and now 2 water damage restoration trucks. SMH, I was too expensive so they call a cheap guy and since he couldn't fix it, they called RR who will rake them over the coals. Stupid is as stupid does.

Comment

Odds are they got the homeowners insurance involved so they may not have been paying anything at that point.

Reason I say this is the emergency restoration people were there. Which is one of the biggest moneymaking deals going. The ones I've seen do decent work. However, they charge what some would consider astronomical prices.

Every dehumidifier, fan, heater, whatever gets charged an hourly rate. Not uncommon to have 5 or more pieces of equipment on something very small. And not cheap either. I recall seeing charges for a dehumidifier for example of around $35.00 hour. Doesn't sound like a big deal. Now multiply that by the 24 hours that is usually the minimum it would run on a job. 24 hours x $35.00/hr.=$840.00. And remember, that's just for the one piece of equipment running, unsupervised.

There's a reason they have pictures with all of those fans and stuff spread all over the parking lot. They get to charge for each piece! The more you have, the more you can put on site, the more you make.

I talked to a friend/framing carpenter about 5 years ago over lunch. He was saying how slow he was and not sure what to do next. I told him he should look into this racquet and explained what I'd seen. Well that's what he got into. Now has 5+ trucks, billboards, website, the whole deal.

I have a little bit of an ethical battle with it because I know how most of them work. As they have told me, "If water hits the floor, give them this card. We get on the job, we pay you x for the referral....."

I know 1 plumbing company that is making a lot of money doing just this. But I haven't thought it to be right up to this point.

So again, I don't know, but am willing to bet the homeowner's insurance has gotten involved. Homeowner calls you, you're too high. They call the handyman, he comes over and mentions the insurance. Insurance says do a,b,c and you end up seeing Roto Rooter and the restoration company.

Sorry you lost that job. Could be good that you did in the long run. Sleep well.

Comment

Dont come down here then, ruthless is a nice word to use. Rick I wish it was that simple but unfortunately not. We have "pups", kids who get the big A off the commercial sites which at present are very thin to say the least and setting up as contractors(sorry to abuse this word0 and know absolutely NOTHING about business. Thye fight everyone for the crumbs bringing down the rates and undermining the legitimate contractors. Thye go broke, scream like stuck pigs and run back to cover of wages job. Also have no control over weekend/after hours work. CASH speaks real loud here. Mind you that is until you get similar situation to first post here.
Any wonder we all want to retire and let the hacks rip the morons blind.........!!!!!!

Comment

The biggest problem with this is quoting them anything before you get there. I never quote over the phone, ever. I do offer free in-home estimates because my service area really isn't that big and when I'm in the home I sell the job and get most all of them. The ones I don't get are the ones I didn't really want in the first place.

9am get a call for water dripping down from the ceiling of a 2 story house. Tell the H.O. that I can't get there until about 3 and asked if they could wait which they said is no problem. I ask if they turned off the water and they said they wanted to keep it on as it wasn't a big drip coming out of the ceiling. I politely ask them again but they insist on keeping the water on.

At 1, I get the address and tell them I'm on the way. They ask my hourly rate and then decline after I tell them. So later I get another job that has me driving right past the house. A handyman truck is out there with a huge pile of drywall on the front porch. 2 hours later, I drive back home and there is now a RR van there and now 2 water damage restoration trucks. SMH, I was too expensive so they call a cheap guy and since he couldn't fix it, they called RR who will rake them over the coals. Stupid is as stupid does.